Following the arrival by ship of the three bells from the Gillett and Johnston foundry in Croydon, England on Oct. 24, 1900, the trio was to remain in a waterfront warehouse until plans for hoisting them into Toronto’s new City Hall’s clock tower were finalized. When all was ready commencing at 10:30 a.m., the morning of Nove. 24, 1900, hundreds watched as the two smaller bells (one 3,382 and the other 1,995 lbs.) were hoisted into place using a steam-powered winch. The large bell, nicknamed by some “Toronto’s Big Ben” and weighing 12,768 lbs., was hoisted and positioned in place the following Mon., Nov. 26.Supplied

When we spend time exploring Toronto’s past we usually do so by reading books on the subject (I can suggest a few titles that are close to my wallet) or by examining old photographs and though not as abundant, some ancient motion picture footage.

Something we rarely think of as being evocative of “old” Toronto are sounds like those made by the hooves of the milkman’s horse as the patient steed navigated the cobblestone pavement frequently found on hilly neighbourhood streets to help the animals get traction during and after a snow or ice storm.

Though not completely ready for occupation Toronto’s stately “Old” City Hall “opened for business” on Sept. 18, 1899. Its architect, Torontonian Edward James Lennox, would have to wait more than a dozen years to receive full payment from the city. And even then the amount he received was less than half of what he had invoiced.

As an historic aside, many of those stones had arrived in the city from the old country in the mid-1800s as ballast in the holds of ships that had carried huge loads of timber on the eastward trip, oak from Oakville for instance, that was destined for use in the construction of some of the early wooden ships of the Royal Navy.

Other sounds that are long gone —sounds that should long-time Torontonians hear them again would bring memories flooding back — include the foot operated bell rung by operators of the TTC’s Peter Witt streetcars or the piercing steam-fed whistle on the old Toronto Island ferries Mayflower, Primrose, Bluebell and Trillium or the “aoogah” (or, is it just “ooga”?) horn of the hundreds of Ford flivvers (any colour you wan, as long as it’s black) chugging along the bicycle lane-less city streets.

The new City Hall’s clock faces, hands and mechanism would have to wait until the trio of bells that would chime the hour, quarter and half hour were in place 220 feet above street level.

While all those sounds are now just memories, there is one that still rings true and has done so for more than 43,000 days (except for very brief periods when maintenance had to be performed).

The sounds I’m referring to (and the expression “rings true” should have given it away) emanate from the trio of bells in the clock tower of our majestic “Old” City Hall, a building that nearly succumbed to the wreckers when in the mid-1960s the Eaton people first suggested a much larger version of today’s Eaton Centre. The bells would strike the hour, half and quarter hours.

It was on this day — Nov. 12, 1900 — that the three bells were transported from the waterfront, where they had arrived by ship on October 24, 1900, and placed at the foot of the new City Hall’s clock tower. Preparations then got underway to hoist the trio into place 300 feet above the busy Queen and Bay intersection.

Once the bells were in place the clock mechanism, the four 20-foot diameter clock faces and hands were installed and while the citizens could look now up and see the time, the bells wouldn’t be rung for the first time until the arrival of the 20th century on Jan. 1, 1901.

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